I got my tile project finished this weekend. I am so glad I hired an expert (my friend's son who tiles for a living). I learned so much from watching this guy install and had I done this myself, it would have been......crappy.
I had prepped the room with hardy backer board and drywall. The first thing this guy did was check the plumb of the walls and pointed out to me that they were not perfectly plumb. He removed the backer board and added shims to get it perfect
Next, he pointed out that my floor was not perfectly level. To correct for this, he installed a 1x3 board at the bottom of the walls and got that perfectly level. After that, he laid the 2nd course of tile and let it cure overnight. He told me that the remaining layers needed a firm base to sit on otherwise it would sag. The following day he removed the bottom board and laid the 1st/bottom course as well as the remaining layers above. I will follow up with a self-leveling floor compound this week. I will also texture the upper walls and paint before installing the fixtures.
What I started with - a room that housed the air conditioner and water heater, which have been relocated:
Room with equipment removed:
Start of Tile Project:
Finished Tile Project: This will be a small half bath/powder room
